Bard, Bellingham and Border Guards

We are extremely fortunate at Bard on the Beach to work with some truly amazing staff members who often go above and beyond to get the job done. Case in point: Sydney Cavanagh (Bard’s Head of Wardrobe) and Mara Gottler (BMO Mainstage Costume Designer) were looking for the perfect pair of men’s pants for the actors to wear in Macbeth. Sydney pulled about 100 different styles and cuts from various sources including many online sites. She came across Misty Thicket Clothing mistythicket.comwhich specializes in medieval and Celtic clothing. Mara chose the pants from a sample that was provided by the company. Unfortunately, the sample they gave was the one and only prototype and Bard needed over a dozen pairs in 2 weeks!

In order to get the pants- in time for the first preview- it was decided that a Bard staff member would drive down to Bellingham and pick up the pants. Misty Thicket – a team of two who worked from their apartment – worked tirelessly for two weeks. The fabulous Amy McDougall (assistant Head of Wardrobe) was tasked with driving down to Bellingham, picking up the pants and returning to Vancouver all in one day. Unfortunately, this was during the week of the Sasquatch Festival in Washington so the border line ups were crowded and rowdy to say the least. After a very long and awkward conversation with a border guard about the necessity for a young woman to purchase several hundred dollars worth of pirate pants, Amy returned to Bard and Vancouver triumphant and successful in her acquisition! You can see those pants (under the robes) on stage all summer in Macbeth.

The male actors wear the pants under their robes, gosh they wear them well…